Gloomy day sweetened with a home-made cheesecake...

I got a shock when I realised that it was 7.45am when I woke up this morning. Jeff told me last night that he would be coming over to my place to give me a SURPRISE before he fly off to Switzerland for yet another work trip. I called him and phew, he was still on his way. By 8am, Dear came and I saw this semi-transparent rectangular tupperware that he was holding, containing something that had 3 different coloured layers. “It’s Agar-Agar!”, I exclaimed. Dear smiled, I’m wrong. It’s cheesecake, one of my fav desserts! Looks good ya?



The top layer is agar-agar filled with peach fruits (so I’m not wrong totally :p), middle layer of course the cheese and the bottom layer is the crumbled digestive biscuits (very different from usual oreo ones ya).

I guess Jeff’s curiosity and love for cooking explains his superb culinary skills. He would constantly try out new recipes whenever he can. So far, he has tried cooking/making the following:
•Chinese food (i.e. fried rice, stir-fry veget – but that was a number of years ago.)
•Western food (His grilled lambchop is really really fantastic!! I could eat that for all my meals, if only he’s willing to do that..hehe)
•Italian (I love his mushroom carbonara spaghetti too.. but dear felt that Blooie’s Roadhouse serves better ones.)
•Appetizers and Salads (Really love his potato salads..could eat one big tub at a go. No wonder I’m getting fatter..)
•Fusion food (Around 2 mth back, Jeff made pancakes and added in smoked salmon with yogurt and fresh fruits – first time I tried such unique food!)


Ok, I digressed, back to today’s dessert – peach cheesecake. Yummilicious, good blend of the chewy agar agar with sweet peach and salty crispy digestive biscuits. The cheese tasted slightly different from usual, Dear said he added in too much cream. But overall, I would rate it 8/10. Really appreciate Dear’s efforts – He knows I will feel gloomy today with him flying off to Switzerland and this dessert is meant to cheer me up and last me till Sat (that’s when he will be returning). That’s such a sweet gesture ya? I’m touched once again.

Gonna 32 dear. Wish I could have gone with you and give you some comfort when air turbulence comes.

Sourcing for the JP...

Qi Qi and I have been meticulous in our preparations thus far. Whether over the choice of solemnization venue, caterer or JP, we have carefully weighed our options and elected to settle for either the choice with the best credentials or the one which gives us the best feeling.

Being this meticulous, though, is a double-edged sword. On one hand, our selection would naturally be that we deem the best and which we were sure would leave us with no regret. On the flip side, dwelling on the specifics meant that a disproportionate amount of time was spent on planning rather than execution.

Which was the case for the selection of our Justice of Peace. Right from the beginning, we laid out our conditions: Mr JP had to be bilingual, popular, experienced, cut a fatherly figure, serious at the right times yet know how to inject humor at the appropriate moments. With that in mind, we thronged the forums and search engines looking for anecdotes from other couples about their JPs.

Comments such as “He was an hour late for our solemnization!”, “She wasn’t confident speaking in Mandarin” and “He scolded my father for turning up late” shrunk our shortlist somewhat, but we were still left with a sizeable group from which to choose from. Picking out the largely popular ones, though, left us with pretty much the same few names. We duly called & emailed them one by one – fingers crossed of course.

At the back of our minds, though, we knew tens of other couples were doing the same. The hugely popular date that we had selected dimmed our hopes further – expectations were not high, and each sms sent was done more out of optimism rather than genuine belief.

So it was with great delight that I received a call on a Monday morning – confirming our solemnization date and timing. He sounded affable, sincere and intelligent – so that was 3 big ticks already. Plus the fact that he could do the solemnization in 2 languages! Looks like we landed a gem!

Thank you for accepting our invite, Mr Phang Tai Heng! =)